Republican Mayor Art Ondish faces a primary challenge from GOP Councilwoman Paula Danchuk, who is leading a council slate comprised of her son, Andrew, and Nancy Absalon. The challengers are seeking to grab two, three-year seats currently held by incumbent Councilmen Stephen Sadow and Michael Stanzilis, both of whom are on Ondish's ticket.

Ondish, who is seeking his fourth, four-year term as mayor, has adamantly opposed the proposed study, saying that Mount Arlington's tax rate is the sixth lowest in the county, and that any merger with Roxbury would reduce services to borough residents and drive up debt.

Ondish said Councilwoman Paula Danchuk's push for the study would have "absolutely zero benefit" to the town, and that it wouldn't provide a cost savings.

"Our services would go down and our taxes would go up," Ondish said.

If he's re-elected, Ondish said, he and his fellow councilmen would ensure that no borough money was spent on this study.

Ondish also accused Danchuk of misrepresenting the facts — a charge Danchuk has herself lobbed at the mayor.

"It's about either voting for somebody who uses misinformation or voting for somebody with a 12 year record of working for the town," Ondish said. "(Danchuk) tells half the story. She doesn't have facts to back up what she's saying."

"Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie," he said.

Ondish declined to discuss specific examples of misinformation, but said his opponent had told voters that the consolidation would benefit the town and that it wouldn't cost the town anything.

"You've got to find money to pay for it from somewhere," he said.

Ondish also claims Danchuk is a driving force behind the study; Danchuk, however, said she is in favor of having the study performed before making a decision of whether to pursue the merger.

"We have one of the lowest tax rates in Morris County," Ondish said. "I've been doing this for a long time, and this would be a loss to Mount Arlington and a gain to Roxbury. How does it make sense to merge with a town who hasn't been doing anything but not operating efficiently. I don't want anything to do with that."

Ondish said the town has had minimal tax increases — an average of $60 per an assessed property of $100,000 — but that the smaller increases were necessary to avoid having a large increase after several years of flat tax rates.

Ondish previously said Danchuk has been wrong to use the term "bullying" in characterizing a dispute over what he said was "just dirty laundry" — a debate over whether certain topics should have been discussed during normal council meetings the public can attend, or in executive sessions behind closed doors. New Jersey law only allows certain sensitive topics, such as personnel issues or litigation, to be discussed in such private meetings.

The prosecutor's office later sent Mount Arlington officials a note warning them to keep discussions about other topics to public sessions.

"It was a vote of five-to-one," Ondish told NJ.com Thursday. "Nobody bullies anybody. We voted against her and she didn't like that. She's the victim, she loves to play the victim. If the decision isn't what she wants right away, it's bullying. The prosecutor looked into it and it's nothing. It's ridiculous."

"People in Mount Arlington know the truth, and they know what I've done and what she's done, and in three years she's brought nothing to the table," Ondish said. "It's so ridiculous."

Regarding his health, Ondish said the recent drooping to his face was caused by treatment for salivary duct cancer. Ondish said he's been responding well to treatment and he's beginning to get back control to the affected portion of his face.

"My facial nerve is regrowing, so I'm doing fine," he said.

Councilwoman Paula DanchukFile photo

Councilwoman Paula Danchuk

Danchuk said she ran for council initially in order to increase transparency in Mount Arlington, and that she felt that the consolidation study was needed before deciding whether or not a merger with Roxbury would benefit Mount Arlington.

"I would like to see a study done, but until I see the information how can I say it's good or bad," she said. "There's no information out there, so how can you say you're against something when you don't have the information."

Even if the study were approved by the Department of Community Affairs, the matter of whether Roxbury and Mount Arlington should merge would be a matter for voters to decide by referendum.

"No matter who's mayor or who's on council, it's not going to make a difference," Danchuk said. "We have one vote each."

Danchuk said the borough didn't need to increase taxes this past year, and that she was focused on making the borough more affordable for residents.

"Even though we didn't need to, we (the council) still feel the need to raise taxes when we don't need to," Danchuk said. "You have to do it, I was told. You can't have a zero percent increase, then the residents will get used to it."

"I'm very happy Morris County hasn't raised taxes in the last two years," she said. "I think we can do that too."

"I've been told that this is the way its been done," she said. "That doesn't mean it's right or that it can't be changed or improved. I've sought to improve it."

Danchuk said she decided to run in the primary to give voters a choice.

"I just wanted to give them a choice," she said. "We made the primary very exciting this year."

Councilman Stephen Sadow

Sadow said he was opposed to the merger study because both the borough's chief financial officer and local school board's attorney said the proposed consolidation would raise Mount Arlington's residents' taxes.

"There's confusion over this consolidation effort that's been sweeping through our town and the neighboring town," Sadow said. "I don't think voters are anxious to spend much time on this or anything that will raise taxes."

Sadow also said the petition was never fully circulated as neither he nor most other voters had been asked to sign the petition — as only 80 people signed the petition including Absalon and her husband.

"It was a very small number of people on the petition," he said. "It was not publicized, it was not a 'let's get out the petitioners' (movement), but a 'let's get the minimum we need and file.'"

Sadow estimated the cost for the study to be performed would likely run between $100,000 to $200,000, and would first have to be approved by the state Department of Community Affairs before it could move forward.

Sadow also acknowledged that he receives health benefits from the town — which challenger Absalon has taken issue with, saying he should give up his benefits to save the town money.

"I've held my piece," Sadow said. "The law entitles public servants to health benefits. Statutorily, I'm thoroughly entitled to those benefits. I think if Ms. Absalon wants to take issue with my health care benefits, perhaps she ought to explain her bankruptcy to the community. She had $60,000 in credit card debt, and remains in arrears on several utilities."

"People fall on hard times, but she's running a campaign on fiscal responsibility and running away from $60,000 in credit card debt and not taking one iota in fiscal responsibility," Sadow said.

Nancy AbsalonFile photo

Nancy Absalon

Absalon said her opponents were deliberately misleading residents about their position with regard to the merger.

"They're against the merger, but my problem is they don't have any information yet," she said. "No consolidation/merger would take place without the residents. It has to go to a vote before the residents, and it would only go to a referendum if it was feasible. If it's going to raise Mount Arlington's taxes 55 percent, then it's not going to happen."

"I think there's a little bit of a disconnect between the council and the residents," Absalon said. "For example, on the petition for the consolidation study, they're misinforming residents, telling them it's going to cost the borough money. That's not true, we want a study, a free study, it's not going to cost Mount Arlington anything. (They're also saying that) if we get voted in, we're going to merge with Mount Arlington. That's not the truth."

Absalon acknowledged that she and her husband had signed the petition seeking the merger study.

According to Absalon, reducing taxes should be part of the discussion as well because taxes "didn't need to be raised 3.08 percent" this year.

Absalon said that over a six year period, Sadow and his wife's health benefits have cost the town a total of about $100,000, which is an average of nearly $17,000 per year.

"I think he should be able to pay for them," Absalon said. "It's just a lot of money. He can start with himself and not accept them."

"I think the same people have been in charge for a long time, and there was a lot more transparency when Paula got elected," Absalon said. "There needs to be a fresh perspective brought into the borough."

Absalon acknowledged that she had filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and that she and her husband were in arrears on several utility bills, but declined to discuss specific details.

"I had a job loss, loss of income," Absalon said. "It wasn't an easy decision, but we filed for Chapter 13 (bankruptcy) in order to keep our home and for four years we made payments to the state which serves as trustee. We were not the only ones suffering financially in Mount Arlington."

"The bankruptcy has been discharged," she said. "It wasn't a proud moment, but we've made it through and I'm sure there are people in Mount Arlington in the same position."

"It just disgusts me that that's the kind of campaign they need to run," she said.

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While the proposed study is a big issue right now, Stanzilis said he doesn't believe it's weighing heavily on most voters right now.

"If you walk around town and you talk to the people of Mount Arlington," he said. "They're not interested in consolidation at all. If you merge a small town with lower tax rate with a large town with a larger tax rate, our taxes will go up and our services will decrease. I feel that we already know the answer to that. My constituents aren't interested in a consolidation at all. They're proud to be in Mount Arlington."

More than anything, he said, taxes were the primary concern for voters.

"Taxes are not as high as the rest of Morris County, but taxes are always high on residents' minds," he said. "We're keeping control on taxes by serving as stewards of our residents' tax dollars...We've worked very hard at keeping our services at the highest level possible and we have been watching our spending."

"For me its important to listen to everybody," he said. "The residents of this town have spoken
want to see it remain whole. There's a lot we can do and have done with shared services, but for consolidation, we don't need it because we're already leading the way with shared services."

Stanzilis said his leadership skills would continue to aid him in his role on the council if reelected.

"What I bring to the table is a lot of experience, I've been chairman of the land use board and I've been involved in the public sector almost my entire adult life."

Andrew DanchukFile photo

Andrew Danchuk

Andrew Danchuk, the son of the Councilwoman Paula Danchuk and a 19-year-old County College of Morris student, said he believes he has a unique perspective to offer to voters.

"The council could use a young voice," he said. "It'd be a useful perspective to know what kids want."

Regarding the consolidation, Andrew Danchuk said he was "not for or against it, (but) just waiting to see what the results are."

"After it comes out I'll make a decsion," he said.

Andrew Danchuk said one of the most pressing issues facing his own campaign are that some voters are "not thinking I'm experienced enough and old enough to do the job. Undermining me, almost."

As a CCM student, Danchuk said he was "learning more than enough about how the government works" in his public administration classes.

"Just give me a chance," he said. "I'll show what I'm made of, I'll show you what I can do regardless of my age."